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Bovell splashes into 50m free final

Blessing Okagbare, of Nigeria celebrates after wining the women’s 100 metre final, at Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland, yesterday. AP Photo

George Bovell splashed some life back into the T&T camp at the Commonwealth Games here in Glasgow, Scotland, yesterday, when he booked his spot in the 50 metres freestyle final, which is carded for later today at the Tollcross Swimming Centre.

However, there was heartbreak for T&T at the Hampden Park Stadium as medal hopefuls Keston Bledman and Richard Thompson failed to advance to the final of the men’s 100m.

Neither was there any luck on the women’s side as Kai Selvon and Kamaria Durant were also eliminated in their respective heats.

Bovell clocked 22.22 seconds, to finish third in the second semifinal, producing the fourth quickest time of the eight finalists.

The medal race is expected to be intense as the local swimmer will be challenged by Australians James Magnussen and Cameron McEnvoy, who took gold and silver respectively in the 100m freestyle, the night before. The others are Benjamin Proud, also of Australia, South Africans Roland Schoeman and Bradley Tandy and Englishmen Adam Brown and Matt Abood.

It was a stark contrast to what was unfolding across the way at Hampden, when Bledman and Thompson made their exit from the 100m event.

Bledman’s 10.24 put him out of contention, despite placing third in his heat. Thompson too was third in his heat but his time of 10.19, though faster than his countryman’s was not good enough.

A visibly upset Thompson took some time before responding to questions from the media.

“I just didn’t show up ready. Sorry to disappoint everybody because I know just as I had high hopes and expectations for myself, there were a lot of people expecting the same.

“I just didn’t bring it today (yesterday). I didn’t do well so disappointing performance,” said Thompson. “Now it’s all about getting ready for the 4x100. I have to put this behind me and get ready for that. Hopefully we do better and medal. We have to regroup and get ready for the 4x100.”

Later, Jamaican Kemar Bailey-Cole went on to win the gold medal in 10 seconds. Taking the silver was Adam Gemili (10.10) of England and Nickel Ashmeade (10.12) of Jamaica copped the bronze.

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare topped the women’s final in 10.85 while Jamaica duo Veronica Campbell-Brown (11.03) and Kerron Stewart (11.07), were second and third, respectively.

Selvon and Durant respective times of 11.59 and 11.70, were not good enough for them to progress out of the semifinals.

In the women’s 400m semifinals, both Shawna Fermin (53.83) and Domonique Williams (54.63) faded in their heats to not advance either.

Ayanna Alexander, though, excelled on the field, progressing to the medal round of the women’s triple jump. She had a best attempt of 13.78 to put her in second spot in group A and overall going into the final.

In the morning session, all three entries in the men’s 400m event, Jarrin Solomon, Renny Quow and Lalonde Gordon, reached the semifinals of the men’s 400m event.

Solomon was up first and topped the opening heat in 45.69. Quow also won his heat, clocking 45.86, strolling over the line ahead of his competitors. He seemed to be in some discomfort following the race but brushed it off saying: “I just want to stay relax and smooth as possible. I feel good no injuries. “

Gordon looked comfortable in his heat, taking second place in 45.84 behind England’s Martyn Rooney (45.57).

His next bout will be tomorrow against the previous Commonwealth Games bronze medallist India’s Vijender Singh Beniwal.

“I feel excited about my upcoming match. I am just asking to everyone to continue to support me,”

Today though Michael Alexander fights Bajan Cobia Breedy in the round of 16 of the Men’s lightweight (60 kg)

Netball

T&T’s netball team lost its third straight match, this time to No 1 team in the world Australia, 69-34 at the SECC.

Again, the “Calypso Girls struggled to get the ball to the shooters, only getting 52 attempts at goal compared to the Australians’ 80.

Joelisa Cooper led the scoring for T&T with 15 goals from 24 attempts in a match which T&T trailed from the first pass.

Shooters Anastascia Wilson and Joelisa Cooper found it tough to get going, barely getting enough touches on the ball as T&T trailed after the first period 16-9.

Play continued downward for the T&T as it added only five goals in the second session to have a 23-goal (38-15) deficit at the half.

Wilson, the goal-shooter, who scored nine goals off 13 attempts, was then replaced by youngster Kalifa McCollin.

Australia still dominated and pushed the lead to 27 goals (50-23) by the end of the third.

The final period was the only time the local netballers scored in double-figures 11, to reach 34 but defenders could not find a way to slow the Australians, who connected 19, to seal the 35-goal victory. Cooper (15/24) shot with 63 per cent accuracy to lead T&T. McCollin scored the other 10 goals from 15 tries.

The local netballers will be back on the court today against England in their final match.

Hockey

Yesterday, T&T’s women’s team suffered another loss, going down to India 14-0. Today the men’s team takes on Malaysia, hoping to get its first win of the Games.

Shooting

No medal for Roger Daniel in his favourite event, the 50m Pistol down at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre. He placed seventh in the final round with a total of 90.5 points.

Countryman Rhodney Allan also took part in the event but he was eliminated in the qualification round after placing 18th. Only the top eight moved on.

Daniel had placed third to advance to the final but could not get shoot his way to silver as he did in the event back in 2010 in Delhi, India.

However, both Daniel and Allan will have another try today at a medal when they compete in the 25m rapid fire pistol qualifying round.

In the 50m rifle prone event, Marlon Moses did not make it out of the qualifying round, placing 31st with score of 599.5.

Norris Gomes and Michael Perez were 28th and 29th, respectively when the intermediate results were released in the Queen’s Prize individual shooting competition.

Today, T&T’s squash players will be back in action to compete in the mixed, men’s and women’s doubles contests while both men’s and women’s table tennis players will participate in the singles event.